​The Complete Chick Guide

In this 40 page guide, you'll learn everything you need to hatch successfully and care for your chicks from their​ first day until they move to the big coop.

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The Complete Chick Guide Covers:

How to Brood Chicks:

  • Preparing the brooder and the equipment we recommend
  • Choosing the right feed
  • Caring for chicks from their first day until they are coop-ready
  • Common health issues and treatment, including how to fix splay leg and crooked toe
  • How to cull a chick if necessary
  • How to make your own chicken waterer
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How to Hatch Chicks:

  • Choosing an incubator, and the models we use and love
  • How to set up and run an incubator, including dry incubation
  • How to tell if your eggs are fertile
  • Tips on storing your own hatching eggs, sourcing eggs from a breeder, and handling shipped eggs
  • Candling basics
  • The hatch and caring for your chicks after the hatch
  • When to assist a hatch, and how
  • How to perform an eggtopsy and troubleshoot your hatch
  • Hatching with a broody hen
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Plus a complete list (with links) to all the equipment we use and love: brooder supplies, incubators, medical supplies, books, and more.
Hi, I'm Maeg, happy to be wrangling chickens alongside my wife, Sarah, at Silver Fox Farm.

When I first started raising chicks, and later hatching them, it was all new to me. Everything I did, I was doing for the first time--often with a good amount of newcomer anxiety and uncertainty. Over the years I’ve built a solid body of knowledge gathered from many sources, and I've learned a ton from experience--many, many chicks worth of experience!

As Sarah and I started sharing our flock this past year, I fielded lots of questions from folks who were brooding or hatching for the first time. It reminded me of when I started, and I decided to put all my experience and knowledge in one place. If you’re new to raising and hatching chicks, this guide will take the anxiety and guesswork out of the process. 
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© The Silver Fox Farm